Introduction
A SWOT analysis is an organizational plan used to determine the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats for a particular company or organization. A SWOT analysis is typically used when an organization is involved in a new project or business venture. It involves specifying the objective of the business venture or project and identifying the internal and external factors that are favorable and unfavorable to achieve that objective. There are four elements that go into making up a SWOT analysis. They include strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. The strength element is described as the characteristics of the business or organization that give it a competitive advantage over others. The weakness element is described as the characteristics that place the team at a disadvantage relative to others. The third element is opportunities. The opportunities are the external chances to improve performance in the environment. The fourth and final element is perceived threats. Threats are external elements in the environment that could cause trouble for the business or organization.
The four elements of the SWOT analysis are broken into two main categories, internal and external. The first category is internal. The internal factors of the SWOT analysis are the strengths and weaknesses of a company or organization. The external factors of the SWOT analysis are the opportunities and threats presented by the external environment to the organization. These categories determine whether an issue affects the organization internally or externally.
The pros and cons of SWOT analyses vary. Two of the main benefits of a SWOT analysis are its simplicity and flexibility. SWOT analyses are not very difficult to integrate into a company’s present business model. They are very flexible with incorporating new and recent information. Although there are benefits to SWOT analyses, there are several drawbacks. They include only being able...